ATAR Notes: Forum
VCE Stuff => VCE Subjects + Help => VCE English Studies => Topic started by: homeworkisapotato on June 23, 2019, 07:17:25 pm
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Heyyy AN! I know many many questions like these probably pop up but idk if any of them reflect my situation right now. So basically I have ruled out mainstream English as I find analysing articles and orals boring so that leaves Lit and Lang. We had small introductions to both Lit and Lang in yr 10 this term and I performed really well in the Eng Lang section but only got a B+ in the Creative piece (which I think is the Lit assessment). I have heard that Lit is super competitive and all the genius A+ achieving English nerds do it, and all the smart as hell STEM kids do Eng Lang. I'm really confused as to which one I should do as I find both content interesting. Eng Lang appeals to me as I find analysing language and learning about the development of language interesting, while Lit intrigues me because it's expressive and it's all about what you feel and it's full of creativity. Lit will also be a breath of fresh air from my other subjects like Methods, Chem, Latin, and Bio. In all honesty I do feel Lit is more interesting and I am ready to put in the hard work, but at the same time I feel as if I'm not good enough to compete against all the genius A+ achieving English nerds.
Thank youuu ;D
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Hey there!
I didn't do Eng Lang, but I can talk about my experience with literature, and it's really not as scary as you think! Yes, a lot of extraordinarily high-performing English students do literature, but the thing is lit is different to English. Say someone who consistently averaged A+ in English decided to write the exact same type of essays in lit, their grades would become very different. To be honest, I did better in lit than I did in English.
Regarding the B+ in creative, don't stress because the creative assessment is only a very small element in lit. The main assessments are close passage analysis and literary perspectives. Also, from what I can remember, there IS an oral component in lit, however it's a very negligible part of it.
Good luck with choosing your subjects! :)
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Hey there!
I didn't do Eng Lang, but I can talk about my experience with literature, and it's really not as scary as you think! Yes, a lot of extraordinarily high-performing English students do literature, but the thing is lit is different to English. Say someone who consistently averaged A+ in English decided to write the exact same type of essays in lit, their grades would become very different. To be honest, I did better in lit than I did in English.
Regarding the B+ in creative, don't stress because the creative assessment is only a very small element in lit. The main assessments are close passage analysis and literary perspectives. Also, from what I can remember, there IS an oral component in lit, however it's a very negligible part of it.
Good luck with choosing your subjects! :)
Hey colline thanks for replying! I know it is hard work but is it possible to do really well in Lit in a competitive school? I'm sort of doubtful of my own abilities as I go to a selective school and all the students there are really competitive, especially in the math and english subjects.
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Hey colline thanks for replying! I know it is hard work but is it possible to do really well in Lit in a competitive school? I'm sort of doubtful of my own abilities as I go to a selective school and all the students there are really competitive, especially in the math and english subjects.
I think that as long as you are willing to put in the work it wouldn’t matter which school you go to, but I think it would actually be a slight advantage to do Lit in a strong cohort! I’m not too certain around the behind-the-scenes stuff like study score calculations, but a selective-school cohort shouldn’t sabotage your performance. :))
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Heyyy AN! I know many many questions like these probably pop up but idk if any of them reflect my situation right now. So basically I have ruled out mainstream English as I find analysing articles and orals boring so that leaves Lit and Lang. We had small introductions to both Lit and Lang in yr 10 this term and I performed really well in the Eng Lang section but only got a B+ in the Creative piece (which I think is the Lit assessment). I have heard that Lit is super competitive and all the genius A+ achieving English nerds do it, and all the smart as hell STEM kids do Eng Lang. I'm really confused as to which one I should do as I find both content interesting. Eng Lang appeals to me as I find analysing language and learning about the development of language interesting, while Lit intrigues me because it's expressive and it's all about what you feel and it's full of creativity. Lit will also be a breath of fresh air from my other subjects like Methods, Chem, Latin, and Bio. In all honesty I do feel Lit is more interesting and I am ready to put in the hard work, but at the same time I feel as if I'm not good enough to compete against all the genius A+ achieving English nerds.
Thank youuu ;D
Heyo! Some thoughts below as I think of them. :) For context, I did English Language but neither of the other two.
* You will also probably analyse articles in EngLang, although perhaps not in the same way exactly.
* The creative definitely wouldn't have been for EngLang.
* I'd try not to worry about the types of students who study each subject. For one, I don't know if those perceptions are accurate (there are literally thousands and thousands of students that study each). And cohort competitiveness or whatever is also accounted for, so I'd try to put this out of mind in your selection process if you can.
* I loved EngLang, but if your gut is leaning toward Lit, that's probably what I'd recommend. I'm sure your teachers would also have interesting perspectives based on what they know about you. :)
Keep us updated!
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Heyo! Some thoughts below as I think of them. :) For context, I did English Language but neither of the other two.
* You will also probably analyse articles in EngLang, although perhaps not in the same way exactly.
* The creative definitely wouldn't have been for EngLang.
* I'd try not to worry about the types of students who study each subject. For one, I don't know if those perceptions are accurate (there are literally thousands and thousands of students that study each). And cohort competitiveness or whatever is also accounted for, so I'd try to put this out of mind in your selection process if you can.
* I loved EngLang, but if your gut is leaning toward Lit, that's probably what I'd recommend. I'm sure your teachers would also have interesting perspectives based on what they know about you. :)
Keep us updated!
Hi J41 thanks for giving me your thoughts! I'm considering doing both as they are really different and I'm really interested in both. Though I'm more of a science person, I think I can handle the two subjects. Do you think that doing both EngLang and Lit is too much?
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Hi J41 thanks for giving me your thoughts! I'm considering doing both as they are really different and I'm really interested in both. Though I'm more of a science person, I think I can handle the two subjects. Do you think that doing both EngLang and Lit is too much?
You wouldn't be the first, and certainly won't be the last. I think it'd be okay. :)
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You wouldn't be the first, and certainly won't be the last. I think it'd be okay. :)
Thank you :)
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Thank you :)
Would defs encourage you to speak to your teachers, too, though. As above, I think they'd have some great perspectives.
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Would defs encourage you to speak to your teachers, too, though. As above, I think they'd have some great perspectives.
Oh yes I'll definitely converse with my teacher tomorrow :)
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Oh yes I'll definitely converse with my teacher tomorrow :)
Cool, keen to hear how it goes. :)
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Hey guys sorry for the really late reply. I had a chat with my english teacher and a few of my year 12 friends who know me and they all said that doing lit and englang in the same year is really strenuous so it's best that i do only one of them with or without english. I'm definitely doing lit but idk if I should do english or not... vce english repulses me but idk if I should choose it as a backup english for the top 4. Do you guys know how I could improve my essay writing and improve my vocab so I can be on the same page as those 'english nerds' around the state?
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You could do literature in year 11 and englang in year 12.
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You could do literature in year 11 and englang in year 12.
I wish but my school doesn't allow us to do english subjects early. Also english is not exactly my strong point so doing it early would probably be a disadvantage for me.. but thank you for the suggestion!
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You know what I'm going for it! You only have one chance of doing vce and there's no point of chickening out in self doubt. I'm going to do lit and I'm going to work hard to get a lit score! Thank you all for helping me throughout this thread of confusion! I will be forever thankful for all your help ;D
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vce english repulses me but idk if I should choose it as a backup english for the top 4.
This suggests to me you shouldn't do English.
P.S. Good luck with Lit!
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This suggests to me you shouldn't do English.
P.S. Good luck with Lit!
ahaha true! Thanks!